Ash's New Look has Ash went into an place called Salon Rocket where he meets Team Rocket who are in disguise as stylists. You'd Expect: Considering Ash's past experiences with Team Rocket and their disguises he should see through them and get out of there. Instead: Ash doesn't see through their disguises until they reveal themselves.

In A Flower Amongst Devils, Raiser has lost the fight to Rias and her Peerage. He finds out that Minako — a Shrine Maiden who can summon gods to her command — was part of the reason why they won in the first place. You'd Expect: For Raiser to accept the loss and move on with his life. Even though Minako taught Rias and her peerage, he should have recognized the fact that they won fair and square and that there was really nothing he could do to go against her anyway. His family is already on thin ice with the Youkai due to his actions almost breaking the alliance with them. Anything else and he could get into serious trouble. Instead: Raiser decides to break into the Gremory house and confront Minako, calling her out to a fight. As a result: He not only gets his ass kicked, but his actions have basically shamed his family name in front of most of the Devil community. His family was forced to give up his sister to the Youkai clan in order to appease the many insults he made onto their family name.

In Legacy of the Rasengan, Kakashi has to train Sasuke to defeat Gaara, a A-Class demon container who has never once lost a fight. It's highly likely that he'll die, so he needs a way to protect himself. Recently, Kakashi copied a few of Naruto's self made jutsus that are more than capable of helping Sasuke during the fight. You'd Expect: For Kakashi to explain the situation to Naruto and ask him for his permission to teach Sasuke his jutsu. Naruto, being the guy he is, would be more than willing to help a fellow teammate, especially since his life is on the line. Instead: Kakashi teaches Sasuke Naruto's personal jutsus without his permission and without letting him know. Naruto find out while in the middle of the chunin exams and loses all trust in his teacher, refering to him as his "superior" rather than a teacher.

In That Look Suna goes to war with Konoha again (this time because a plot by Temari and Kankuro to avenge Gaara got Kankuro killed). Naruto and Anko are ordered to stealthily take out a reservoir that supplies over 70% of Suna's water. You'd Expect: That Naruto follow his superior's orders: the two of them sneak in, cut communications, plant some explosives, and get out before blowing the place sky high. Instead: Naruto summons Manda to destroy the place which results in Suna being warned that he and Anko are in the area before the reservoir is destroyed. As a result, both are stuck deep in enemy territory with the enemy forces knowing both where they are and what they look like. Anko promptly chews Naruto out for that.

From the same story, Naruto is partnered with Anko despite knowing she cheated on him because they have almost a decade of experience working together. You'd Expect: Naruto to put aside his dislike of Anko and follow orders since not only is she his superior officer, they're also in the middle of a war. Instead: He regularly back-talks her and disobeys her orders, even after she reminds him that he could receive a court-martial for such behaviour.

In Maylu's Revenge, it's revealed that Roll was Not Brainwashed when she's Empress. During the match in the N1 Grand Prix... You'd Expect: Roll to maintain her cover, and at the same time, try to give out hints to MegaMan, Lan, and of course Maylu, that she's still herself and try to do a little damage as possible. Instead: She doesn't do any of the above, trying to delete MegaMan for real, and telling off Maylu that she doesn't need to controlled by her anymore. Also, the matter of reverting back to her old self while grabbing a hold of the former. So now you'd expect: She would reveal her true colors and with the power of the rare twisted chip, she would defeat TorchMan so that she and her teammate would win and proceed to the finals of the N1. Instead: She continues to act like she's brainwashed by pretending like she wasjust getting MegaMan to drop his guard so that he will have no other options to do with her. Afterwards, she left the responsibility of being freed by Maylu inserting a Cyclone chip to free herself from the corrupted chip. Result: Maylu has defected to World Three and her quest to destroy DenTech City. Way to go, Roll.

A Protector's Pride. Oh damn! Ichigo's sisters and mother have been taken to hell! Naturally Ichigo wants to go save them and can even go God Mode should things go south. Unfortunately Ichigo needs Yamamoto's go ahead. You'd Expect: Since Ichigo is willing to actually go to Yamamoto and ask him for a way to save them without Nice Job Breaking It, Hero! happening, Yamamoto comes up with a plan to help him. Ichigo is playing by the rules this time and willing to listen to him. He even knows how to open a portal to Hell. So what would it hurt to quickly iron out a plan, give Ichigo a few Shinigami to help and let him go on his way? Instead: Yamamoto treats him like a child and basically tells Ichigo to shut up and stay put. Prompting Ichigo to get desperate. Desperate enough to bust the gates of Hell open and triggering a war.

Ranma 1/2 fic Those Who Hunt Ninjas has Ryoga find a magic doll that can grant a single wish. You'd Expect: Him to use the wish for something useful, such as getting rid of either his curse or his terrible sense of direction. Instead:Skewed Priorities kicks in and he wastes time considering a load of useless wishes, before he wishes for a bigger penis. And it never even occurs to him to make one of the other two wishes.

Another Ranma 1/2 fic, Sendaihas Ranma and Akane move to Sendai. Morishita, a guy at their new school who's the closest thing to a Muggle in the Ranma 1/2 universe, attacks Ranma, jealous of his relationship with Akane, but is easily beaten. That same day, he tries to gang up on Ranma with some of his friends, and again, is easily beaten. You'd Expect: Morishita to realise that he's got no hope of beating Ranma in a fight, and subsequently stop trying to antagonize the guy. Instead: He gets some more friends to attack Akane, and they end up suffering an even worse beatdown because of Akane's lack of skill compared to her fiancée. And even if this wasn't the case, Ranma would have almost certainly gotten pissed with them.

In Chapter Six of the Axis Powers Hetalia fic What a Way to Fall (a sequel to the Financial Crisis Gangbang story), England (along with the rest of the world) has just met the new personification of the USA, a young girl that Really Was Born Yesterday and also possesses her predecessor's memories (including those of the assault that made Alfred kill himself). You'd Expect: England would keep his distance from the girl, or at least courteously introduce himself to her to let her know he's not going to hurt her like he hurt her predecessor. Instead: England, viewing the new America as a second chance to make things right, tries to kidnap her and take her back with him to raise her himself. Canada (New!America's guardian) thankfully foils this and rightfully calls England out on trying to force the girl to play out a redemption fantasy. Now You'd Expect: England would take the hint, realize what he did was wrong, and apologize. Instead: He tries to justify himself by accusing Canada of being unfit to care for the new America. This only deepens Canada's already broken trust and resentment for him, and when England does try to apologize, Canada shoots it down and cuts England out of his life for good.

In Yu-Gi-Oh! Forever, during the Dueltropolis arc, world-class-level duelist Forrest Wiles (aka "Leo the Wildmaster" of the Zodiacs) is slated to duel Jillian Uriah, and he brings out his most powerful monster, Master of Oz, which has a base attack strength of 4200 points and a defense of 3700. He also has in his hand the magic card Wild Nature's Release, which increases the attack power of one selected monster by an amount equal to its defense points, and by contrast Jillian has on her side of the field a monster named Guardian of the Labyrinth, whose attack strength is currently at 1500 points, far weaker than the Master of Oz. And at the moment, Jillian's life points are 5150 points. You'd expect: That Forrest would use Wild Nature's Release on Master of Oz, which would increase its attack power to 7900 (4200 + 3700) and make it strong enough to both destroy Guardian of the Labyrinth and wipe out Jillian's life points, thus winning him the duel. Furthermore, Jillian doesn't have any cards or card effects on her side of the field that would impede Forrest from doing so at all, or for such an attack not to succeed. Instead: Forrest uses Wild Nature's Release on another of his monsters, Berserk Gorilla, whose base attack and defense are, respectively, 2000 and 1000, thus increasing its attack to 3000, and then uses that to destroy Guardian of the Labyrinth; he explicitly says that he could have used it on Master of Oz, but he's having too much fun with her to end the duel prematurely. Unfortunately, this sets him up to be defeated by her later on, and sometime afterward fellow Zodiac member James Truesdale chews out Forrest for messing around in his duel because he wanted to get into Jillian's pants.

Later in the same arc, when the group is on Pegasus' liner en route to Tokyo Dome, Seta Kaiba is slated to have his semi-final duel against Zander Zabel, The Dragon of the Zodiacs, who had only a short while earlier ditched his Bitch in Sheep's Clothing appearance by almost killing one of the protagonists during his quarter-final duel (and the reader has already seen him brutalize one other opponent prior to all this). Given what they know of Zander at this point, Joey suggests to Yugi that they should just throw Zander overboard and thereby allow Seta to win the duel by default. You'd expect: That Yugi would let Joey follow through on that idea, as he himself acknowledges that Zander and the organization he represents are bad news. Instead: Yugi insists that the duelists should play out their battle and Zander should be knocked out of the competition fair and square. Joey calls him on this, pointing out that the Zodiacs clearly don't care about honor or Combat by Champion, but Yugi says that that doesn't give them, the good guys, to sink to the level of the bad guys. Zander winds up losing his duel, but he still manages to activate a microchip that brainwashes Seta and turns him to the side of the Zodiacs.

In Contract Labor, Motoko attacks Keitaro after some Out-of-Context Eavesdropping leads her to believe he attacked Naru, and her actions put her at risk of being evicted from the Hinata House because she violated the rules. You'd expect: That Motoko would go along with it quietly and accept responsibility for her actions, especially considering her brief My God, What Have I Done? moment after Tsuruko told her of her mistake. Instead: Motoko not only shows no regret, but actually decides to blameKeitaro for the trouble because she just cannot let go of her All Men Are Perverts mentality, leading to her challenging Keitaro to an honor duel, with the loser being forced to leave the Hinata House. The result: Motoko not only loses pathetically, but the Aoyama family is so disgusted by her actions that they disown her and leave her to fend for herself for a minimum of two years.

In Act II, Tsukune's inner ghoul, in a Hyde Plays Jekyll scenario, approaches Kokoa, claiming to love her and not Moka, and to know a way around the Eia Dreahl, a sacred vampire pact punishable by death if broken that Kokoa invoked with Moka in an effort to steal Tsukune from her and lost. You'd expect: That Kokoa would realize something was up, namely the fact that Tsukune couldn't possibly have known a way around the Eia Dreahl because he didn't know that it even existed before Kokoa invoked it. Instead:Love Makes You Dumb is in full effect, and Kokoa ends up tricked into giving the ghoul a massive surge of monster energy from her newfound overcharge that enables it to become a full-fledged ghoul and usurp Tsukune's body completely. While Tsukune is soon given a Holy Lock to suppress the ghoul, she's so horrified and guilt-ridden over the fact that the ghoul played her so easily that she nearly kills herself.

In Act III, Akua and Kahlua help Kiria in his plan to rewrite history in favor of the monsters with Chrono Displacement using Tsukune's inner ghoul, genuinely believing that that was the extent of Kiria's plan. In chapter 52, upon their defeat, Tsukune and the others point out that Kiria had three dozen cases of Blackheart for usage in the plan; one little vial of Blackheart would be enough for the ghoul to change history in favor of the monster world, so if he had the power to change history as he saw fit, why would he make so much of the stuff for one use? You'd expect: That Akua and Kahlua would actually realize that Kiria had more sinister motives in mind. Instead: Tsukune and co. have to practically spell it out to them that Kiria also planned to send Blackheart-infected monsters out to the dark lords themselves, as well as any other monster powerful enough to oppose him, to ensure that in the new timeline, he would be the only ruler, and that as part of his plan, he would have had Akua and Kahlua, and possibly Moka and Kokoa as well, infected with Blackheart and sent back to kill Issa and destroy the Shuzen empire from within, all of which is anythingbut what Akua and Kahlua wanted.

In Act VI, Kokoa and Sun end up having quite a tense relationship, because Sun, despite having spurned Gin's Love Confession years before, is jealous of Kokoa's relationship with Gin and just can't get the hint that he doesn't love her anymore, which escalates into her spying on Gin and Kokoa having sex. When Kokoa finds out, she activates her overcharge while angrily demanding to know why Sun just can't understand that Gin is her boyfriend now. You'd expect: That Sun would Know When to Fold 'Em and back off of the already pissed-off Kokoa. Instead: Sun flat-out tells Kokoa to her face that she doesn't deserve Gin at all, while causes Kokoa to completely blow her stack, punch her clean through a wall and T.K.O. her, and then chase Felucia, who was carrying Sun away, through the halls of Fang Fang's villa and attack them both in an Unstoppable Rage. The result: Sun ultimately winds up in the infirmary brain dead from Kokoa's attack, with the group needing to find a magic spell to revive her (though it should be noted that Kokoa never meant to go that far, and is horrified at what she did to Sun. Even worse: As soon as Sun awakens, she tries pushing her luck with getting Gin again, and Gin, with help from Arial, has to point-blank tell her that whatever they had is gone and Sun has to settle with being Just Friends or walk away. It works.

The Queen right before the climax. You'd expect: The Queen would, after freeing herself from her bonds, to silently move away and either A) ambush Black Queen, thereby interrupting, if not outright stopping the spell and possibly letting her steal one or more of the Seven Seals to use for herself or B) escape and regroup. Instead: She announces her intentions to stop Black Queen's Evil Plan and launches an attack. Black Queen effortlessly parries the attack since she now had plenty of time to prepare. This leads to Evil Rin trying to run her though with her dagger, forcing Majorin to take the hit and die as a result.

Witches at World's End, courtesy of, once again, the Queen: You'd expect: The Queen, after sensing Black Queen's return, to get the Seven Seals and use her Super Mode to guarantee a win on her part and stop Black Queen once and for all. Or, at the very least, force Black Queen to reveal her ace early and give the protagonists ample time to prepare countermeasures for it. Instead: The Queen opts for her new Cool Sword (and only her Cool Sword; not even her Game-Breaker levels of magic are used) even though she can't use the full extent of its power outside of her Super Mode, and tries to run Black Queen through. Cue Curbstomp Battle, and not in the Queen's favor.

Plotting his return to power, Devimon creates Project Chimera in which Chimeramon are made up of the Digidestined's Digimons. You'd Expect: That he ensures that Chimeramon is made up of every single Digidestined (Including Davis, Yolei, Cody and Ken) and himself, to ensure that the Digidestined will stand no chance against him, allowing him to become even grounds with the likes of Demon and Gravemon and during his last stand, only the super-powered humans can put a dent on him. Instead: For god knows whatever reason, he never considers using the Digimons of the new generation Digidestined, which allows Davis to use their DNA Digivolved megas along with their Holy Armor to beat the devil into the ground.

Umbradevimon plots to create tension within Ken in hopes to weaken their teamwork starting with controlling him into torturing Shaun and attempting to kill Yolei. You'd Expect: When Ken, Yolei and Cody confronts the fused mega about what really happened, he tells a made-up story of how Ken's Heel–Face Turn is nothing more than a lie and that he is willingly working for Umbradevimon for a long time in hopes of making the Digidestined suffer, making Yolei and Cody more likely to consider Ken a complete traitor. Surely the tension between Ken will dramatically increase and renders the Digidestined unable to work together for a long time. Instead: He tells them what really happened with Ken which ruins any tension that the Digidestined regarding Ken have for him. Him torturing them does nothing to compensate for Devil's stupidity.

Both Ken and Umbradevimon are capable of teleporting to the Digidestined's location using their abilities. You'd Expect: That they immediately use this advantage to kill them during their sleep or at least in Umbradevimon's case, kill the Digidestined whose Digimons are not a part of him and imprison the Digimons that are a part of him. Instead: The Emperor only used this ability to kidnap Gatomon, the 2 Agumons and Patamon for his Project Chimera but never considers to kill the partners until everything that he owned lost. Umbradevimon also only used this ability to kidnap Ken to create tension (Which again would have worked if he hadn't made the mistake above) and to summon his Black gears to relay a threatening message.

Having lost Omnimon as a result of Darkheart's absorption, the Digidestined are trying to figure out a way to enter the Real World to stop both Umbradevimon and Demon's invasion. You'd Expect: That Shaun himself buy some time with Darkheart by playing cat and mouse with him while the other Digidestined, having been relocated to a safe place, immediately find a Digiport that can relocate themselves to the Real World. To prevent Darkheart from doing the same, Shaun summons his evil half Nega to deal with him and break Davis free from the dark titan. Instead: The Digidestined immediately relocates themselves to where Yolei's crest is found but they have no time to plan their next move no thanks to Shaun's apparent cowardice by running away from the corrupted Child of Miracles as soon as possible. The Result: The Digidestined party starts to continuously dwindle to the likes of Darkheart, unable to teleport away from his pursuit for making them suffer. By the time Darkheart is finally defeated, Odaiba is a shell of their former self with thousands of people including Davis's parents and Cody's grandfather dead.

After being repeatedly being humiliated by Nega despite Darkheart's best attempts, he realize that he can beat Nega simply by imagining a gun behind his back. Shaun summons his own evil side Nega in hopes to stall Darkheart as he frees Davis from Umbradevimon's corruption. You'd Expect: That Nega either keeps taunting Darkheart into beating himself into submission as or imagine him being trapped in a void of no return before fading away in order to buy more time for Shaun. Instead: He tells Darkheart his true reason for stalling him, not only making Shaun's last gamble completely in vain but also become a part of the Dark angel's power after Darkheart punches him and absorbs him. Nice Job Breaking It, Hero!

Upon Darkheart and Mummymon's defeat, the Digidestined decides to head towards Umbradevimon's base. The devil makes a vow that he will crush them. You'd Expect: That Umbradevimon spams his Doomsday Viper attack like there is no tomorrow while he is at his strongest. Instead: He just stands there and let the other Digidestineds spam their attacks on him, only lightly retaliating their attacks. Result: The Digidestined managed to found his weakness by depowering the Digimons that are made up of him which result in his own downfall. "Piedmon" completely made sure of that.

In the Pokemon fanfic Travels of the Trifecta, Paul is heading for Snowpoint City, and plans to take the toughest section of Route 216. You'd Expect: That he'd at least dress warmly and have his Pokemon help get through obstacles, considering he has a Weavile which is well-suited for a cold climate. Instead: He doesn't change his clothes at all even though Conway warns him to do so, and when faced with a wall of snow and Weavile wants to help him, he outright threatens to release Weavile and all his Pokemon for daring to suggest that he might need help (because of a bet he had made with Conway). Result: He gets through the wall of snow, but is too tired and frostbitten to notice his surroundings, and ends up falling off a cliff and ends up needing his Pokemon and Conway to save his life.

In Becoming a Man Among Men Ranma has no interest in Akane but does develop feelings for Kasumi who likewise gains feelings for him. You'd Expect: Genma and Soun to fully support their possible relationship as it'll unite the schools just like they want. Instead: They continue to insist that Ranma has to marry Akane, who he can't stand.

From the same story, Akane repeatedly challenges Kodachi to fights only to lose every time. You'd Expect: Akane to realize that she can't beat Kodachi as she is and either stop fighting her or at least hold off until she's gotten some proper training in. Instead: Akane challenges Kodachi to an honor duel between their families. The Result: Akane loses terribly and now her family owes a debt to the Kunos. Fortunately, Kodachi simply wants Akane to stop challenging, though Akane insists such a thing is terribly unfairand she shouldn't have to pay any sort of forfeit to Kodachi.

In Sekirei: Guardian of the North, Minato's Sekirei know that Higa regularly kidnaps, blackmails, and/or assassinates rival Ashikabi to make their Sekirei work for him. When he comes to collect a few of them, they tell him they've already been winged so he can't take them. Higa asks who their Ashikabi is so he can "congratulate" him. You'd Expect: Them to remember that Higa regularly kidnaps, blackmails, and assassinates rival Ashikabi and not tell him a thing. Instead: They brag about how great their Ashikabi, Minato Sahashi, is. The Result: Higa sends assassins after Minato who nearly kill him. Even Worse: Minato's Sekirei are actually surprised he did so.

After the disastrous Love Potion incident that nearly resulted in several deaths in Stupid Devil Dog, Montmorency is ordered to fix Saito and Louise gives her some money to cover the costs of the extremely rare potion ingredient she needs. Said money includes all of Saito's savings. The same Saito who nearly killed her and all his friends while under the aforementioned love potion. You'd Expect: Montmorency, upon realizing she can't find said ingredient in town would simply return the money. Instead: She and Guiche spend all of Saito's money on various other things such as a silk dress. The Result: Saito flies into a rage and barely resists killing them.

In "Killing Your Dark Future" Seryu and her Teigu Koro are about to kill Sheele, Sayo has only one explosive arrow left. You'd Expect: Sayo to shoot Seryu. Even if she can't save Sheele, she can take out a dangerous enemy who will undoubtably cause trouble in the future. Instead: She shoots Sheele in a Mercy Kill despite the fact that Sheele was gonna die anyway completely passing up a chance to kill a dangerous foe and obtain her Teigu.

Crossover

In Teenage Jinchuriki Shinobi Hun's army of purple dragon mooks are curbstomped by the new Team Seven (Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Kin, and Himeko) and The Ninja Turtles. You'd Expect: He retreats since his army is defeated, especially since how the turtles have defeated him numerous times in the past, and sees just how strong Naruto and Himeko were in their last encounter. Instead: He came charging at all nine of them. If he had problems with just the turtles, what gave him the idea that he could fight them plus 5 of Konoha's greatest chuunin?

In A Spark of Genius, the entire island of Themyscira is sent to Hell and after a year (a week on Earth)Xander comes with a Humongous Mecha and supplies to help them. You'd Expect: Hippolyta to realize that trapped inside Hell would be a bad time to continue discriminating against men and let him into the city. Instead: She insists that he leave the supplies at the gate and remain outside the fortified city.

In the Harry Potter/Mass Effect story Lightning Among the Stars Luna is an A.I. acting as the V.I. (less intelligent and emotional A.I.) for Harry's and Hermione's ship. You'd Expect: Luna to acknowledge that due to the Geth A.I. aren't trusted and to act like a V.I. around people who don't know the truth. Instead: She constantly acts in a way that reveals her nature as an A.I. and either ignores or doesn't notice Harry's and Hermione's attempts to stop her. The Result: Both Harry and Hermione regularly have to quickly explain that Luna isn't like the Geth and is not a threat, lest someone shoot first and ask questions later.

To Kill A Thief: Light Yagami has it on with his final plan to kill Jeanne. You'd Expect: He has to check out on his Death Note to make sure Miyako doesn't touch it and write down not only her name, but also Jeanne's and Chiaki's to make them die of heart attacks quickly. Instead: He writes down on the notebook, not realizing it's a fake one. On the top of that, he blurted out to Jeanne, Miyako, and Chiaki that he's Kira. As soon as the 40 second countdown ends, they're not dead. Now they know the truth.

The World's End: A US General has learned of a group of superhumans (the Scoobies) who've taken a town with the highest murder rate in the country and reduced it by 85%. You'd Expect: Him to either keep an eye on this group or try to hire them so they're working for the government. Instead: He deems the Scoobies a threat to National Security for being teenagers with superpowers. Then he tries to frame them for mass murder and trick them and the Justice League into destroying each other. The Result: The Justice League and Scoobies learn the truth before anyone's killed and keep in contact in case of an impending apocalypse, leaving both groups stronger than they were beforehand.

In Roanapur Knights, Xander confronts Riley over using Slayers bought from slavers in military operations, including assassinations. You'd Expect: Riley to explain his objections over the operation to Xander and that he's trying to keep the girls out of things or at least protect them, but has been threatened with replacement by someone who cares far less about the girls. Or even that the only operation they're intended to be used in is capturing a corrupt general guarded by vampires. Instead: Riley keeps insisting that he's Just Following Orders and let's Xander think the Slayers were used to assassinate Garcia Lovelace's father. The Result: Xander starts beating the hell out of Riley who has to be saved by the other soldiers in his group.

In the Lyrical Nanoha/Sailor Moon crossover White Devil of the Moon, Nephrite survives a botched ambush by Sailors Mars and Jupiter, Vita, and Chrono, and manages to escape with Miyuki Takamachi as a hostage. You'd Expect: Nephrite to show the common sense of a five-year old and check to see if she has any goddamn concealed weapons!Instead: He doesn't.The Result: Miyuki comes this close to bisecting Queen Beryl, who promptly throws Nephrite in the dungeons accused of intentionally bringing an armed assassin to her. Even Worse: He literally abducted her just after she tried to ambush him. Who comes to an ambush without any weapons?!

In the Marvel Comics/Buffy the Vampire Slayer story Blue Bell, Buffy is given weaponry to fight vampires by Hawkeye, including a specially made bow that cost over $50,000 and a pair of specially made batons. Hawkeye tells her that the bow is extremely expensive and to make sure she switches to the batons when fighting in melee. You'd Expect: Buffy to actually follow his advice as she knows the weapons are extremely high quality and expensive. Instead: She decides to beat several vampires over the head with her bow. The Result: Buffy breaks a $50,000 dollar weapon after owning it for less than an hour.

Film

In The ShadowThe Rebel Alliance tries to infiltrate Coruscant on Empire Day, reasoning that traffic would be high enough they could slip through. You'd Expect: The Rebel Alliance would send a few minor or lesser known members in a common ship. Instead: Han and Leia go in the Millenium Falcon. The two most recognizable members in the most recognizable ship they have. The Result: They get captured pretty much the moment they entered Coruscant's atmosphere, though it was partly due to Vader ordering all ships to be on the lookout of any YT series Corellian freighters. The only reason they escaped was because Vader let them. Even Worse: They considered taking a more inconspicuous ship but decided the Falcon's speed in case they get caught was more important than actually lowering the odds of getting caught.

Literature

In Soulless Shell, Arnold has been sentenced to death for rape by Leif, who is the incredibly powerfulleader of the vermin of Redwall, but manages to escape and convince his guards to join him. You'd Expect: Him to flee the country, given that no creature alive can even hope to challenge Leif. Failing that, you'd expect him to come up with a plan to take Leif by surprise and use his guards to gain an advantage in numbers. Instead: Arnold decides that vengeance against Leif can wait until after he's raped a young girl. Since Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil Leif finds him, turns into a demon, and kills him. His guards aren't even present, and soon afterward try to attack Leif in revenge, only to get killed fairly easily.

Black Heir: Harry has a magical contract that forces Narcissa Malfoy to do whatever he writes on it. When he decides that he's restricted her freedom too much, he asks for advice from her on how to change it (after ordering her to tell the truth). Narcissa suggests that on top of not being able to reveal his secrets, he should make it so she can't harm or allow him to be harmed in any way, shape, or form and that he force her to not hate or resent him for what he did. You'd Expect: Harry to take her advice since she has to be honest about what would be good failsafes against her acting against him. Instead: He decides that manipulating her emotions would be too harsh. Cue Narcissa painlessly knocking him out, changing every rule he's written, then destroying the contract so that while it's still in effect, he can't change anything on it anymore.

From the TwilightspiteficResisting Devotion, Quil tries to start a romantic relationship with Claire, who's just turned 18. He tries to kiss her, but she pulls away from him. (Quil at least has the sense not to pull a Sam Uley, figuring that doing so will make Claire hate him.) You'd Expect: Quil to apologize for suddenly kissing her. It's not likely that she would automatically hate him for it; they've been good friends for several years and she was probably just shocked that he made an advance like that. Instead: The first thing he does when she asks what he's doing is reveal that he's loved her since she was a child. That does make Claire hate him, and she states that she'll be putting a restraining order out on him at the end of the fic.

In the AU Worm fanfic She Who Skitters in Darkness, Skitter's powers have recently manifested, and as a result she joins the Wards, a teenage superhero group. The Wards unmask themselves, revealing their private identities, and Skitter does the same. Then it's revealed that one of the Wards- Shadow Stalker- goes to the same high school as Skitter, and has been viciously bullying her for years. Skitter deeply resents her because of this. Worsening the situation is that Shadow Stalker's abuse directly led to Skitter developing her powers and suffering severe emotional trauma. You'd Expect:Shadow Stalker to recognize that she and Skitter are now on the same level,note The Wards have only begun to analyse Skitter's powerset, but they can tell it's very formidable. and that Skitter is no longer the fearful, powerless girl who Shadow Stalker once tormented. If that weren't enough, Shadow Stalker could consider that she is surrounded by a group of literal superheroes who would NOT take kindly to her bullying their newest recruit. (The Wards are well aware of Shadow Stalker's sadism, and put her on probation to try and curb it.) Instead:Shadow Stalker actively attacks Skitter, relentlessly taunting her and dismissing Skitter's Traumatic Superpower Awakening as 'pathetic'. She continues to do this even after the Wards' leader orders her to stop, and after Skitter's anger at Shadow Stalker makes lightbulbs shatter and the room's electricity short out. At no point does she think 'Hey, maybe I shouldn't try to agitate the superpowered girl with a serious grudge against me!' As a result, Shadow Stalker is nearly kicked off the team note (and actually may have been, we just don't find out because of the POV switch) and Skitter's Power Incontinence puts the fear of God into everyone in the room. note Incidentally, Skitter then runs away from the Wards and is recruited by an opposing team of supervillains. So Shadow Stalker's idiocy has directly weakened her team and lost them a promising recruit.

In one Harry Potter story, Ginny decides to dose Harry with a love potion. A note on the recommended dosage is cut off halfway and continued on the next page: "Potion should be re-administered -" You'd Expect: That Ginny would turn the page to make sure she gets the dosage right. Instead: She assumes the recipes says, "Potion should be re-administered as necessary/" The Result: Harry nearly dies of an overdose from Ginny administering the love potion everyday (the recipe called for once a month).

Turnaboutreinterpets Peter Pettigrew as a loyal friend who was forced to betray the Potters by Voldemort. From there, the canon events happen as usual. Now let's go to the graveyard scene, specifically to the moment when Harry and Cedric Diggory have been portkeyed there, and Voldemort has ordered Peter to kill Cedric. You'd Expect: Peter to take advantage of Voldemort's weakened state and Crouch Jr's absence, and refuse to carry out his orders, before explaining the truth about his "betrayal" to Harry, warning them about Voldemort's plan, and asking them to turn the weakened Dark Lord over to Dumbledore/the Ministry, unless of course he wants to do it himself. That way, he can make up for his past actions, eliminate the threat of Voldemort for good, and perhaps redeem himself in the eyes of Harry and his former friends. Instead: Peter does the exact same things as his canon self, and it doesn't occur to him that he could betray Voldemort until the final battle, by which point many people have been killed in the Second Wizarding War. Also: Peter's reason for going ahead with the resurrection ceremony is that, if he doesn't cut Harry to use his blood, another Death Eater would do far worse...never mind that none of the other Death Eaters are present, hardly any of them believe that Voldemort's still alive, and Voldemort apparently has no way of summoning them to his side (you'd think he would have done so a lot sooner if that was the case) in his weakened state.

In When the First Task Went Wrong, Harry is facing the Hungarian Horntail while the school watches from the stands. You'd Expect: The tournament organizers would make absolutely sure the stands are completely safe from the dragons in case they decide to attack the spectators. Instead: Absolutely no defenses have been put up. The Result: When a student throws an apple at the Horntail, it takes offense and roasts everyone in that section of the stands.

Later, all four of the dragons have broken free and are engaged in a dogfight over Hogwarts. You'd Expect: Everyone would flee immediately and ignore any petty grudges in favor of saving themselves. Instead: Several Slytherins stop to mock Harry and blame him for the massive FUBAR. The Result: They're all crushed to death when the dying Welsh Green falls from the sky.

While testing scrying spell outside (any wards at all will stop it) in Dodging Prison and Stealing Witches Hermione and Daphne spot a wounded unicorn, which they know is being hunted by Voldemort. You'd Expect: When they use their Sense Danger spell and it gives the result signalling the highest amount of danger they would run back inside the warded building that Voldemort can't enter. The unicorn will die but they won't needlessly expose themselves to Voldemort, who doesn't even know they're present. Instead: Daphne insists they have to save the unicorn. The Result: The two are nearly murdered by Voldemort and only barely escape due to the unicorn in question.

Later, John Potter figures out Harry has also time traveled. You'd Expect: John would confront Harry about this in private so the fact he time traveled doesn't get out. Instead: He shouts his accusation in the (fairly crowded) library. Harry has to quickly throw up a privacy charm and inform him that long term time travel is highly illegal and would get them both dissected to figure out how they did it. Justified given that John's defining trait is his inability to think things through, contrasting with Harry's status as a Guile Hero.

At one point, Daphne arranges a meeting with the head of the Nimbus broom company and tells him she can increase the efficiency of between 5% and 10%. You'd Expect: The man to salivate over the idea. At the very least, he'd hear her out so he's not potentially throwing away a massive amount of money. Instead: He tries to storm out of the meeting as a waste of time. Daphne barely convinces him to actually look at the device she brought which does exactly what she claims.

At one point in For Love of Magic, Penelope Clearwater's future career is ruined by Lucius Malfoy because she once gave his son detention. After learning what happened, Penelope goes to her boyfriend Percy Weasley and tells him. You'd Expect: Percy to agree that's a horribly petty thing to do and maybe see if his father could get her a job working in his office. Instead: Percy tells Penelope that she should be more careful about who she assigned detentions to. The Result: Penelope immediately dumps him.

In Episode 29, Peter uses the Film Power of all-mighty God to fight Blackorg and is inches away from winning... You’d Expect: The other Scanrangers to sit back and watch. Or to just get out of there. Instead: Takeshi, for some reason, runs out and asks to help Peter. Momentarily distracted telling Takeshi to leave, Peter is left vulnerable to a fatal blow by Blackorg.

Earlier that same episode, Blackorg gave the Scanrangers a nasty Curbstomp Battle. Takeshi, in particular, took a direct heat ray to the chest and now has a gaping wound. You'd Expect: Someone in Camp Paramount's collective braintrust, whether it's the Scanrangers or the higher-ups, to order Takeshi to ICU immediately. Instead: They do nothing, indirectly leading to the moment mentioned above. Nobody gets Takeshi checked out for his injuries until he passes out in the next episode.

Several times throughout the series, a villain will have the Scanrangers on the ropes. You'd Expect: The villain to kill the Rangers. And Blackorg would let them do it. Instead: The villain, either by their own accord or by Blackorg's orders, backs off.

Episode 9 opens with an unnamed character running from an unseen attacker (which later turns out to be the Monster of the Week) inside a theatre. You'd Expect: He'd immediately make a bee line for the exit. Instead: He makes a bee line for the stage and dies when he accidentally falls off.

Scanranger vs Jetman sees our heroes paired with the Choujin Sentai Jetman. A friendly alien tells them they have twenty-eight hours to find an important MacGuffin; otherwise, the space-time continuum will collapse. You'd Expect: The two Sentai would get on the case right away. Instead: The two Sentai shrug the important deadline and hang-out together. By the time they remember they had a plot, twelve hours have passed. By the time they recover the MacGuffin and thwart the villains, another thirteen hours have passed. They spend up to the last moment of the deadline hanging out some more.

Earlier, when the Rangers realize they're in Tokyo... You'd Expect: The Scanrangers to brush up their Japanese in order to communicate with the locals. This isn't a problem for B.C. and Kunio, who are both Japanese and know the language. Perhaps the other three can learn from them or use them as interpreters. Instead: It doesn't occur to Vin that they should do this until he sees B.C. and Kunio do it.

Episode 17:

Vixen plans to cause chaos at the upcoming Valentine's Day dance. A key part of her plan is to abduct a student named Dean, infuse him with excessive energy, and have him blow up the Rangers at the dance. She knows he has a crush on Toni, so he has a reason to get to the dance. You'd Expect: Vixen to ensure that Dean gets to the dance (i.e. hook him up with Toni). She'd also turn Dean against the Scanrangers to insure he'd blow them up. Instead: Vixen leaves Dean to his own devices. It's only by dumb luck that Dean gets to go at all note He was walking by when Toni decided on a date. And since he had no reason to want to blow up the Rangers, Dean uses his excessive energy to blow up the Monster of the Week instead.

Speaking of the dance... You'd Expect: Vixen to account for Danger Woman, the local guest heroine scheduled to perform at the event. A fact advertised on the posters that she clearly saw. Instead: She doesn't and is taken by surprise when Danger Woman gets involved.

Vixen sends her Monster of the Week, Kuro Cupid, on a test run to spread his Hate Plague across campus. The affected students cause a riot. You'd Expect: The campus administration to recognize the crisis and cancel classes immediately and order non-affected personnel to stay off campus. Instead: They do not. The Scanrangers wait until after classes (which is itself idiotic) before tending to the problem.

Once the Rangers do tend to the problem, they figure out the solution in no time: The Power of Love. You'd Expect: Vixen to realize that her plan is no good now that the Rangers know how to counteract Kuro Cupid. She'd either send him out for one final assault or, if she wants to carry out her original plan, scrap Kuro Cupid for a new monster or upgrade him. Instead: She carries out her original plan with an unmodified Kuro Cupid. It's just her luck that the Rangers forget how to deal with the monster's spell the second time around.

In Episode 21, Nick is left in a coma after a fight with Benedict's Brigade. He meets an alien while in limbo who tells him of how the Brigade had earlier destroyed his planet and left him the only survivor. You’d Expect: Nick, one of few people in the universe to have successfully fought off the Brigade, would vow to keep Earth from suffering the same fate as his new friend's planet. Instead: He asks the alien what the story has to do with him.

Instead: He doesn't and tells her to be quiet instead. She tries again.

You'd Then Expect: Him to apologise and reply.

Instead: He continues to 'shh' her, so Morticia keeps trying.

You'dThenExpect: Him to finally apologise and reply.

Instead: He continues to tell her to be quiet and even starts to be rude.

You'dTHENExpect: Morticia to worry about why he's being so out of character.

Instead: She calls him names.

You'dTHENExpect: Him to instantly be concerned for her and apologise.

Instead: He says "I don't know why I married you"

You'd THEN Expect: Her to think something was wrong with him and be worried.

Instead: She slaps him and walks off in labour.

Result: She falls down the stairs and almost dies.

Morticia gets pregnant with a child she doesn't want.

You'd Expect: Her to consider adoption and abortion.

Instead: She gets depressed and tries to kill herself.

Result: She ends up in hospital with the baby dead.

Morticia gets kidnapped by a sadistic rapist.

You'd Expect: Her to attemt escape and her family to rescue her.

Instead: They don't until nine whole months later.

In Order In Chaos the Centauri and the Orieni go at war, and the Minbari immediately warn them to not violate their neutrality or they'll pay. You'd Expect: Given the Minbari's superior technology would allow them to flatten both sides at the same time before they realize they've been attacked, Centauri and Orieni would stay the hell away from them. Instead: The Centauri emperor actually anticipates the Minbari demand by decreeing Minbari space forbidden for the duration of the war, and the Orieni government, after some rumbling on how the Minbari are their natural allies, accept their demand. The problem is that some Centauri raiders decide to prey on Minbari shipping in Minbari space to make a quick buck with their advanced technology, while the Orieni decide to try and bypass the fortifications of the Centauri border systems by passing into neutral space, and accidentally penetrate Minbari space, prompting the Minbari to inflict a Curb-Stomp Battle to both at the same time before repeating their demands. You'd Expect: The Orieni and Centauri governments to apologize and the raiders to run like they're chased by an angry god. Instead: The governments do just that, and they're spared. The raiders not only continue their activities, but don't even bother to change their base. Result: The Minbari find them, and one of the ships approaching their base is armed with an antimatter converter. Boom.

Video Game

Eri's Game: Eri has taken some potshots on the police at the building her Kenzo Hiryu is. She knows she's gonna meet her end and knows there's gonna be a lot of men with guns outside the building. What should she do? You'd Expect: That Eri should know that if she tries a death wish like that, the mysterious force (who is none other than Shiki) that keeps on foiling her death attempts would foil this one. Even if she accepted her death, she would try to stay alive Instead: Eri boldly opens the building and strides on the police who are all pointing guns at her. She manages to take some of them before dying. This time, the mysterious force isn't there to stop her. That finally got her death wish for sure, but... Even Worse: The reason the mysterious force (Shiki) doesn't foil this one because of her battle with the Game Master at that time.

In the lost Fire Emblem Awakening webcomic Future of Despair, Panne is married to Henry and pregnant with their son Yarne. Her Taguel instincts and what she remembers of their traditions dictate that a Taguel mother must give birth in isolation and in her beast form. You'd Expect: For Panne to tell Henry (a man with severe mental/emotional issues of the abandonment kindamongothers, which she's very aware of) to give her a hand and help her find an adquate yet kinda isolated place to deliver their child without any risks. That way she can safely become a mom without having to give up on her instincts, and not to mention Henry gets to participate in the birth of their son even if he can't be present. Instead: Unable to "resist her instincts", she transforms and runs away from the mostly safe palace she and Henry are currently staying in, completely alone and behind Henry's back, to have baby Yarne in the woods. She's then mistaken as a wild animal by two local hunters and gets shot full of arrows, barely managing to give birth before kicking it - which soon sends the already mentally unstable Henry through a Sanity Slippage and a Despair Event Horizon crossing - and sooner or later will cause him to throw his own life away, therefore leaving a very young Yarne (whom he already was neglectful to) almost completely alone. Enjoy becoming a member of the Women in Refrigerators club and ruining your whole family's lives for no other reason than your own stupidity disguised as ~irresistible instincts~, Panne!

In Morphic, one of the main characters, Jean, is a half-Vulpix. They need to evolve a Growlithe into an Arcanine, for plot reasons. They need a Fire Stone for that. You'd Expect: Anybody else than Jean takes the Fire Stone and gives it to Growlithe. Instead: Jean takes the Stone and goes through a Body Horror transformation into a half-Ninetales.

This was how the Bad Future of the Mass Effect's fic Crucible started. First, we have Garrus who felt into depression because he thought Shepard was dead after the Reaper War. He was trying to find a way to relieve himself (which, for turians, is mainly sex) when Perdita Marius approached him. She was the daughter of General Marius, who is known for his ruthless, racist and dominating nature who was gathering more power for him during this unstable period. You'd Expect: Garrus'd tell Perdita to go away and blow off steam with someone else that had no connection with him or just find a hooker or share his pain with his father. And even if he didn't know that Perdita had ulterior motive, he'd wait a little bit longer before getting on it with her. Instead: he immediately jumped into bed with the woman. Result: Unsurprisingly, she became pregnant after just a few weeks, forcing Garrus to marry her, only for Shepard to show up, with her own big stomach.

Alt!Garrus then faced a crossroad: Either he break off his engagement with Perdita to go with Jane and their son and may lost Hadrian's custody; or marry the turian in a loveless marriage, completely under Marius's control and share Gaius's custody with Shepard which will expose the child to the dangers on Palaven. Garrus's father, Avitus, told him to go with Jane and he will help his son to win back Hadrian's custody with helps from the North (which was a powerhouse that Criptine's been fearing for thousand of years). You'd Expect: Garrus'd listen and trust his father and go with Jane. Instead: He decided to fix his mess on his own, chose to marry Perdita and effectively became Marius's puppet. Result: Victus lost his Primarch-ship to Marius who then activated discriminating bills that oppressed and rendered the Hybrids and their parents to that lesser than cattle, Shepard and Gaius's life were in constant dangers and eventually, Gaius was molested and mutilated by Perdita while his parents were not around. It only gets worse from there...

Alt!Atilius was the one started the whole mess with Marius because of how he deal with the man. In details, the turian discovered that Marius's driven his wife, Atilius's sister, to death through abuse and was now using his daughter (along with her brother and their cousins) for his sick pleasures. Atilius then kidnapped Marius to punish him. You'd Expect: He'd either expose Marius's crimes to the public (since there're several witnesses from the victims, to the victims' parents to the house's servants) or secretly execute him and take in his niece Perdita. Instead: He asked an asari friend who put a lock onto Marius's mind that would give him great pain whenever he come near anyone sexually and then let the man go after a week of torture because his friend Avitus persuaded him not to kill Marius. Result: There're more than one way for people to get off other than through sex, and Marius continue to wreck havocs onto everyone and still held complete power over Perdita. Looking up the above sections to know more about the damages.

Alt!Atilius knew that damages have been done to Perdita and she may have some mental sickness. You'd Expect: He'd take her to professional psychologists and make sure she's okay. Instead: He secretly did the evaluations by himself, only checked to see how Perdita behaved around her kid, saw that she passed all the test with no trouble and decided to give her the benefits of doubts and tell no one about it. Even when in the recent years after her pregnancy, Perdita's been drinking heavily, went into drug addiction and was a horrible parent even to her own child which indicated something was very wrong with her, Atilius still kept quiet. Result: She molested and mutilated her step-son Gaius during a drunken/high-on-drug fit, later it revealed that she did grope him once when he was a baby and sometimes looked at her own son in sexual views.

Alt!Miranda was in danger of being caught by both the Alliance and Cerberus so she must leave her son Tiberius to his father Adrien and run away so her baby could have a normal life. You'd Expect: She'd ask her Normandy friends who would have the skills and resources to hide and protect her, especially the master thief Kasumi and Liara, the Shadow Broker. Instead: Miri wanted to have control over her own fate and deal with everything alone. Result: After decades of constant running without any peace, Cerberus finally caught up with her. They raped, tortured and disgraced Miranda to death and beyond that. Meanwhile, her son Tiberius grew up with a huge self-esteem issues, fucked up many things in his life due to his lack of motherly guidance and his father's overcompensating parenting.

Alt!Garrus was forced to abandoned his son Gaius right after the child's suffered three traumatic events (his mother Shepard's death, being forced to live in Mondala and killed a man in self-defence). He gave the boy to Lantar Sidonis and his wife so they could take him out of Council space. You'd Expect: Garrus'd tell the couple to explain everything for Gaius later with the promise that one day they could be together again. Instead: He decided that it was too dangerous for Gaius to know anything and wanted to protect his son's innocence (which, by that point, was non-existence) and forced the Sidonis to swear that they will never tell Gaius the truth no matter what. Result: Gaius's already had doubt about Garrus's love for him due to several events before, this one plus another happened later cemented his belief that Garrus hated him and betrayed his mother. It took decades to settle the mess on Palaven and by that point it was already too late. Any attempt to reunite with him from Garrus was futile and Gaius grew up with serious problems, coupled with some more tragedies, finally became a Death Seeker who resented his bio-father while Alt!Garrus was now a lonely old man who only lived to regret the past.

Phoenix Wright: Ghosts of the Past: Iris is haunted by Dahlia's spirit slowly driving her insane. Phoenix and the rest decide to let Maya channel Dahlia to find some solution. You'd Expect: That if they're channeling the vilest murderess anyone of them ever known they'd do it in the safe place far from anything that can be used as a weapon and make sure Maya is restrained during chanelling. Instead: They do it in a kitchen with barely any precautions. As a result Dahlia sends half of the cast to the hospital and almost kills Athena with kitchen knife.

In another Ace Attorney fanfic The Fey Family Cousin the police receive an anonymous call informing them about a murder, telling them to check DNA on the murder weapon but specifically demanding that they won't check fingerprints. You'd Expect: That no sane person would rely on police listening to such request in the first place but if they did the police wouldn't listen to them and check the fingerprints anyway. Instead: They listen and don't check the fingerprints on the murder weapon. Even Worse: Detective Gumshoe decides that "prepare the evidence" means "make sure it's clean'' and wipes the prints from the weapon so when finally someone wants to check those prints there are no prints to check.

In In the Eye of the Beholder, the protagonists come into conflict with Sycophanta, a group of rival Persona-users who want to inflict Narcissus Syndrome on the entire world in the name of evolution. When Sycophanta goes into the Magical Land, their forms change into that of their ideal selves, meaning they know who the heroes are while the heroes have no clue who they are. You'd Expect: For them to hold on to this advantage and milk it for all its worth. Instead: They confront the heroes in the real world and reveal themselves literally the next day.

Web Animation

Webcomic

Hivefled: Equius and Eridan receive a rambling, emotional IM message from Gamzee, babbling about how his mentor is giving him the creeps. Reading between the lines, it's quite obvious that said mentor is touching him inappropriately, but it's not entirely clear how Gamzee feels about this or even if he knows what's going on, as he's clearly typing while high as a kite. You'd Expect: Them to ask for clarification, and then tell him what's going on and tell him he should be running away. Instead: They assume he's bragging and tell him to just keep doing what he's doing.

Lereal, the leader of the Sufferists, has been recruiting people and has managed to stay hidden. The Sufferists are in no real danger, but Lereal isn't satisfied with staying hidden and staying alive. Karkat, Sollux, Nepeta, Kanaya and Tavros, the descendants of some major rebels, arrive, and Lereal takes this as a sign that the Sufferists will triumph over the oppressors. However, once Gamzee is rescued, he warns his friends and Lereal that the Condesce and Grand Highblood know exactly where they are and will come after them. You'd Expect that Lereal would at least try to move the Sufferists to a new, safer location, even if he didn't trust Gamzee, and that he'd realise that even though the Sufferists number in their hundreds, they're no match for the fleet. Instead he decides that with Karkat on their side, they can't lose. The Sufferists attack the fleet and are wiped out, leaving only two ships alive- one containing Karkat and co, who flee to Earth, and the other containing a group who decided to mutiny, and who made it out but whose whereabouts are now unknown. Great one, Lereal.

In the beginning, after Arthur hits his head on the bottom of the pool, they get out to call 911. You'd Expect: That his friends would take him out of the pool, since he's still submerged in water and unconscious after hitting his head. Instead: They leave him in the pool, underwater, for 20 minutes until the ambulance arrives, which helps cause him to become mentally retarded (and this is following the in-story logic behind this, as Arthur would be dead in real life).

Arthur’s friends try to reverse his condition, but are told that the only hope for doing so, stem cell treatment, is illegal. They then decide to replicate the process that caused it in order to get him back to normal. You’d Expect: Them to use simple logic (as well as listen to the Brain when he points this out) and determine that pushing him into the pool would only make it worse. Instead: They go through with it, and are surprised when it makes Arthur's condition even worse.

Alex has the titular antagonist herself doing a press conference at the Candy Kingdom where she pins the blame on the dark swamp event on Marceline. On the top of that, she shows them of her crimes against Princess Bubblegum since "What Was Missing". You'd Expect: The Candy People will know that she's a friend of their princess and that she can't just charge her for all this. Instead: They believe her word. As soon as Marceline shows up, they started throwing rotten tomatoes to her for the acts she had done to their princess. What's worse is that Finn and Jake also believe Alex.

In chapter 9, Marceline and Princess Bubblegum prepare to go to Alex's castle. You'd Expect: They should take Finn and Jake with them to investigate the place in order to see what Alex just did and regain their memories of being friends with the former. Instead: They went there by themselves. As a result, Alex kicks their asses and reveals her plot.

Secrets and Lies: Twilight Sparkle has been the victim of numerous acts of vandalism, culminating in a confrontation with the insane pony responsible where Twilight is goaded into vaporizing her in the heat of the moment, and evidence indicates to her that Discord is responsible, attempting to weaken the Elements of Harmony and break out. You'd Expect: As this is the sequel to a story where the rest of the Mane Six hiding their issues led to utter insanity and Twilight needed to uncover said issues and reassure the others of the strength of their friendship in spite of it all, that Twilight could now gather said friends, explain the situation in full (putting her own unfortunate act in the context of Discord, as that was how she was trying to deal with the guilt), and inform Celestia as well (understandably afraid of the Princess's reaction, but Discord). Instead: She tries hiding it all from everyone except for vague warnings (and a few rants doubting her friends' ability to support her) that ultimately drive all of Ponyville into chaos. Nicegoing, Twi.

Katara is separated from Zuko and, unbeknowst to him, pregnant with his child. Toph tells her that a gift from the Fire Nation had just arrived, which is a basket of fruit and a note signed by Zuko. Happy, but also sad over finally having contact with him, Katara eats some of the fruit and immediately miscarries. You'd Expect: Katara to quickly come to the realization that the miscarriage resulted from eating fruit that came from an outside source and likely laced with some poison to induce miscarriages. Instead: Katara is convinced for three years that it came from her being depressed over not seeing Zuko for six months. It takes Mai to tell her that she had laced the fruit with some poison, to make Katara realize this.

Azula ignores her banishment from the Fire Nation and approaches Mai, with the intent to blackmail her into getting an influential seat on the Fire Nation's senate. You'd Expect: Azula to go to Zuko for blackmail, because she has an easier chance to manipulate him. Mai was the person who outright defied her, stating she cared more for Zuko than being afraid of Azula and Mai is a very accomplished knife-thrower. Instead: Azula approaches Mai and gets stabbed with a poison-tipped knife, which resulted in Azula almost dying of bloodloss while being poisoned and eventually losing her memories.

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